Marco Fu stages brilliant comeback to dump out Ken Doherty, Graeme Dott prevails in 2024 World Championship qualifiers
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Updated 12/04/2024 at 22:19 GMT
Former Snooker World Championship winner Ken Doherty was dumped out after relinquishing a 6-5 advantage to lose 6-10 to fellow veteran Marco Fu on Friday afternoon. It was better news for Graeme Dott though, who advanced to the third round of qualifying after a 10-5 win over Mostafa Dorgham. The Scotsman will now be up against Welshman Jackson Page in the next round.
'What a shot!' - Trump nails stunning long blue to develop pink
Ken Doherty surrendered a 6-5 lead over Marco Fu after a 10-5 defeat in their World Championship second-round qualifier.
The Irish veteran took a 2-0 lead over fellow stalwart Fu, and found himself 36-4 up before missing a long red to set up a period of safety play.
While Fu put himself back in contention at 37-23, both players were struggling with long pots, though Doherty landed a difficult red to give himself the chance to close out the frame with just the colours remaining.
However Fu scrapped back to seize a final chance to pot the final black and halve the deficit.
Fu looked to be on course for a decent early break before confessing to a foul on the white, and Doherty went 40-9 up. He followed up a well-taken red with a rest with a poor miss on the blue, and Fu came back to the table.
As the player from Hong Kong worked his way to clear the remaining balls, he sunk a deft blue into the bottom left before clinching an equalising frame before the interval.
The two continued their battle after the restart and found themselves 51-50 in Doherty’s favour, with one red, and all the colours, remaining on the table.
A superb double on the brown left him needing the blue to be mathematically clear, and he played a safety to leave it tight with the blue on the right cushion.
Fu potted the blue after Doherty missed another double, and then sunk the pink to leave him with a hugely tough black to the middle-left as he trailed by two, before nailing an excellent effort to go ahead.
Doherty rode a couple of bad contacts as he battled back to end his losing streak and get back to 3-3.
Doherty then benefitted from a fluke to snooker Fu comprehensively to go 4-3 up, and at Fu then missed a black to allow his rival back in - only to be let off with an awful miss on the brown, and he then settled things at 4-4 as the session approached its final stages.
The final frame threatened to be a scrappy one as Doherty came to the table 16-11 but the reds spread against various cushions and the brown tight against the green on the right.
Doherty struggled and added just one more, and Fu built a 35-17 advantage before coming to the last three reds before having to play safe and Doherty returned to sink a long red as he edged a few points closer.
Fittingly for such a tight game, Doherty had three colours left when he came to the table 40-32 behind. He potted the blue to the top left, guided in the pink to the bottom left, before a routine black gave him a 5-4 lead ahead of the evening session.
Both players took a frame each after the restart, before Fu took the final five frames including a clearance of 136 in the 14th on his way to sealing a resounding win.
Fu will now face Hossein Vafaei in the third round of qualifying.
Experienced Scotsman, Graeme Dott overcame Mostafa Dorgham with a 10-5 victory in his qualifier, after holding a 5-4 lead into the second session.
Three half century breaks guided Dott into his small lead, but he did not have it all his way.
Dott’s 62 break in the first frame put him ahead, but Dorgham scored 71 to level at 1-1. A 59 in the sixth frame for the Egyptian took him square at 3-3, before Dott bookend a Dorgham frame with breaks of 77 and 55 to go into the evening with a frame advantage.
Dott would go onto claim five of the remainiing six frames and finished with a flourish thanks to clearances of 125 and 104 in the 14th and 15th frames.
The Scotsman will now face Welshman Jackson Page in the third round of qualifying.
Elsewhere in the early play, Julien Leclercq progressed with a 10-3 win over amateur Haydon Pinhey, and Fan Zhengyi lost 8-10 to fellow Chinese competitor Jian Jun.
One-time semi-finalist Andy Hicks beat Long Zehua 10-2 after ending his first session with a commanding 8-1 lead, Dylan Emery was beaten 8-10 by Oliver Brown, Martin O'Donnell is 7-8 behind Ma Hailong, and Aaron Hill beat Daniel Womersly 10-3.
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